Tag Archives: Ford

I’m not shy in myadmiration for first-gen Mustangs, and I have to admit that one is pretty high on my perpetual list of next old cars. There are almost always a handful of these for sale in my area at any given time, but this one jumped out at me because of the color and the proud grandma in the photos. Seriously, who wouldn’t want to have a car painted “twilight turquoise?” I’d probably lose the Cragars and put some blackwall tires on it, but I think that’s all it really needs. If it’s nice enough for grandma to drive, it must be nice enough for you.

After last week’s high-priced Bonneville, this similarly expensive Torino seems like a bargain. Well, maybe not, but you could practically eat off the engine compartment, and look at that angry face! I honestly could not remember ever seeing one of these cars before. I knew it was a Torino, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that specific grille before, and it’s awesome, in an “I’m going to thump you, punk” kind of way. It’s sitting up way too high, and it “only” has a 302, but that purported $12k paint job sure looks nice.

There are times when I do get bored while searching Craigslist. Page after page of overpriced musclecars I could never afford and rusty projects that will never get finished tend to dull my enthusiasm, and it takes something truly bizarre to capture my interest. This van did just that. Between the pictures showing a grille- and headlight-less fascia (but don’t worry, those parts are in the basement!), a shifter, and a very grungy footwell, I was excited to see what else was in store. Let’s examine this ad a little further:

“She’d be a great running van with minor work done to it.” – Have you ever done engine work on a full-size van? Nothing about it is minor. Considering the seller mentions later on that he suspects the engine has a bad head gasket, I wouldn’t say “minor” is the word to use here.

“Really cool all black ‘no windows in back’ vintage van w/ carpet on the inside.” – I would say “scary as hell” as opposed to “really cool,” but that’s just me.

“3/4 of the tires are good (ALL hold air)” – Considering “holding air” is the main prerequisite for being a tire, I don’t know that that’s something to really brag about. And now I’m really curious as to what makes the fourth tire bad.

“wooden door handles” – And yet no pictures. Given the state of the rest of the vehicle, I can’t imagine the craftsmanship that went into these.

“kinda messy inside” – Understatement of the century here.

“shifter gets “stuck” sometimes” – At what times? When I’m trying to get out of the way of a runaway garbage truck, most likely.

“I’ll even help you work on it to drive it out of here.” – Jackpot! That’s the whiff of desperation I was hoping for. Hand the guy $500 and this thing is yours, I’m sure of it.

Ahoy, mateys! Hop aboard the SS Galaxie and sail the seven seas! Yarr, I don’t know what the person who did this was thinking, but I guess I would enjoy pontoon boat ownership too. For what it is, that crazy continental kit/bumper extension is nicely finished, but the last thing this car needs is more rear overhang. Instead, it needs a fair bit of addition by subtraction – toss everything past the tail lights, the whitewalls, the hokey wheel covers, and the fender skirts, lose a few inches off the ride height, and you’d have a pretty great coke-bottle-cruiser for under $10k. Or, you know, swap out the steering wheel for a tiller and start wearing shirts with epaulets.